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Materia Futura, led by Alessia Pasquini and Beatriz Sandini with XR designer Paulina Martina, invites audiences to explore biobased materials through craft and digital experiences, sparking curiosity, wonder, and new ways of engaging with sustainability.
A New Vision of Materials
Materia Futura is a sensory-led design research project exploring the future of sustainable materials through the fusion of nature, technology, and craft. It responds to a key tension in biodesign: the gap between the vibrant aesthetics of digital culture and the often-muted look of biomaterials. Embracing bold colors, iridescent effects, and experimental forms, the project challenges the notion that sustainability must appear raw or minimal. By translating physical bioplastics into tactile digital experiences, Materia Futura offers audiences a new way of seeing, feeling, and knowing biobased materials.
Tactile Explorations
At the heart of Materia Futura is a hands-on, iterative process of material experimentation, guided by curiosity, aesthetic inquiry, and circular, regenerative principles. Working with natural biopolymers such as agar, alginate, and gelatin, the team explores color, texture, and form to create materials that shimmer, glow, and captivate the senses. Techniques like laser-cut sequins, engraved moiré patterns, and holographic finishes expand the visual and tactile richness of biomaterials - revealing how sustainability can also be emotionally and sensorially compelling.
Extending Reality
Materia Futura’s exploration extends beyond the physical realm into extended reality (XR). In collaboration with XR designer Paulina Martina, biomaterial samples are translated into digital formats, preserving and reimagining tactility, color, and surface qualities in immersive virtual environments. As part of the project, augmented reality (AR) experiences have been developed where digital materiality comes to life, complementing the physical materials and extending the exhibition into an interactive layer. Through these experiences, audiences can engage with the materials in a playful and immersive way, projecting them into their own surroundings. This digital dimension functions not just as visualization or documentation, but as a creative medium, expanding how sustainable materials can be designed, experienced, and shared.
